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A mystery crocheter decided to give the city some cheer on New Year’s Day by giving Reality Checkpoint a knitted cover with a ‘Happy New Year’ message.

Karen Kennedy took these photos at Reality Checkpoint on New Year's Day 2017

The craftswoman, who has since come forward to the News but wished to be known only as Clare, said she created the design to bring some cheer to people as they walked along the popular route.

She said: “I’m glad it’s bringing cheer already. I chose to place the knitted design at Reality Checkpoint because that’s the place where some people take stock.

“I also have a giant sunshine design at the bridge at Jesus Green lock, which I placed there for the Winter Solstice.

The mystery crocheter, who has come forward but wants to remain anonymous, also created this sunshine design near Jesus Green

“After checking on the design a few days later I saw that some people had left thank you notes on it, which was lovely to see.

“The feedback for my designs so far has been excellent; they really seem to cheer people up and that’s what I set out to do.

“As well as those two designs in the city, I’ve got something planned for February which is an alternative take on Valentine’s Day.”

The mystery crocheter, who has come forward but wants to remain anonymous, also created this sunshine design near Jesus Green

The crochet design comes after the lamppost was recently made the subject of a restoration, where existing paint work was stripped back and restored to its original colours of moss green, red, white and gold.

The origins of the name Reality Checkpoint are shrouded in some mystery, with several theories about what it means.

The name was first coined in the late 1960s or early 1970s, reputedly by students from what is now Anglia Ruskin University.

Some believe it denotes the demarcation between the ‘unreal’ nature of the historic, university-dominated city centre and the ‘reality’ of the rest of Cambridge.